H.S. SOFTBALL: Top-seeded Bridgewater-Raynham coasts to win

The Trojans opened the Division 1 South tournament with a 12-0 victory over Whitman-Hanson on Saturday in a game halted in the sixth inning. Sarah Dawson allowed three hits after throwing five perfect innings and Jenny Heller had a three-run home run in the first inning for B-R, which had 14 hits.

One year ago, a last-inning rally was needed for Bridgewater-Raynham to survive the opening round of the Division 1 South softball tournament.

The Trojans, who were undefeated at the time, had to score twice in their final at-bat to slip past 16th-seeded Dighton-Rehoboth.

One year later, top-seeded B-R experienced no such first-round scare when it opened against No. 16 Whitman-Hanson on Saturday afternoon.

Winning pitcher Sarah Dawson was in firm control and junior Jenny Heller set the tone with a three-run home run in the first inning as the Trojans took care of the Panthers, 12-0, in a game that was stopped in the bottom of the sixth via the mercy rule.

B-R (20-1) advances to the quarterfinal round and will host ninth-seeded Norwood (16-5) on Monday at 3:30 p.m.

“I heard a lot about them throughout the season, and they’re always good,’’ said Whitman-Hanson first-year coach Jenna Olem, whose team finishes 14-8. “Their pitcher is phenomenal. Their defense locks it down and they have hitters one-through-nine that are scary.’’

Those ingredients of sensational pitching, flawless defense and a balanced hitting attack added up to the Trojans having little trouble in their 2014 tourney debut.

“We had a week off and you like to try to keep everybody focused,’’ said B-R coach Mike Carrozza. “I think the kids came right out at the beginning of the game and were pretty focused throughout the game.’’

Dawson set down the first 15 batters she faced before allowing three singles (including a pair of infield hits) to Maxine Vincent, Emily Cook and Megan Downing to load the bases in the sixth inning.

“Sarah was dominant right from the start,’’ said Carrozza. “I think that’s big. You’ve got to have your dominant pitcher working. Your offense works better, your defense. Everything works together.’’

B-R gave Dawson all the support she needed in the first inning, grabbing a 3-0 lead when Heller homered over the fence in right-center with two outs after Stacey Korotsky and Madi Shaw singled.

“I think it was a big lift right away,’’ said Carrozza, whose team had 14 hits. “She hit the ball hard and we got three runs right on the board and you’ve got the momentum. You’ve always got to keep momentum in softball, and I think that was the momentum right from the start.’’

The Trojans made it 5-0 in the second as Stephanie Cavallaro singled, went to second on a Korotsky bunt single and was sacrificed to third before scoring on an error. Shaw’s two-out double to center brought in Korotsky.

Page 2 of 2 - B-R extended the lead to 6-0 in the fourth with an unearned run, and Cavallaro doubled home Sophie Perez, who had singled, in the fifth for a 7-0 lead.

The Trojans finished the Panthers with a five-run sixth inning with pinch hitter Allsyon Murphy starting things with a double, and pinch runner Nicole McSweeney scored on a single by Emily Kurkul.

Two more runs scored on errors, an infield hit by pinch hitter Allison Chappell made it 11-0 and a wild pitch scored Holly Greet with the run that ended the game.

W-H, which was 9-11 a year ago, showed improvement this season after a 3-4 start and loses just two players to graduation.

“They really got after it after those first few games,’’ said Olem.

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.